SWR parents object to change in bus stop
Nearly a decade ago, a group of parents went before the Shoreham-Wading River school board to protest a change in their children’s bus stop.
On Tuesday night, those same mothers were back again, saying that the district’s new consolidation plan effectively made it unsafe for their children to walk to the bus.
The main bus stop in question is at the intersection of Monticello Drive and Vizcaya Court in Shoreham. Parents living on a nearby cul-de-sac said it would be unsafe for their children to have to walk the hundreds of feet to the new location.
“It seems like nobody even looked at this,” said Vanessa Logan. “Bottom line we’re just asking [you] to consider the children’s safety.”
Another mother, Patricia Shea, said she and her husband both work, and that their babysitter will now have to walk the kids to and from the bus stop each day. The mothers estimated that about 25 other students will be at this single stop, posing a safety hazard, they said.
The same parents had come before the board — along with media attention from local newspapers — about the same proposed bus stop nine years earlier, Ms. Logan said. The district ultimately altered that stop.
Assistant superintendent Glen Arcuri said bus drivers had already previewed each route and a “transportation safety officer” was also modifying routes, though he couldn’t say whether this location had already been changed.
Superintendent Steven Cohen said the district would be open to changing routes based on feedback from parents in the first few weeks of school.
“Everything we’re doing this year is brand new,” Mr. Cohen said. “We are definitely going to take experiences into consideration.”
Mr. Arcuri added that he will personally travel the route to see the mothers’ concerns firsthand.
